Stacked microelectronic devices and methods for manufacturing stacked microelectronic devices

ABSTRACT

Stacked microelectronic devices and methods of manufacturing stacked microelectronic devices are disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a microelectronic device includes forming a plurality of electrically isolated, multi-tiered metal spacers on a front side of a first microelectronic die, and attaching a back-side surface of a second microelectronic die to individual metal spacers. In another embodiment, the method of manufacturing the microelectronic device may further include forming top-tier spacer elements on front-side wire bonds of the first die.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.13/934,536 filed Jul. 3, 2013, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,803,307, which is adivisional of U.S. application Ser. No. 13/346,402 filed Jan. 9, 2012,now U.S. Pat. No. 8,501,546, which is a divisional of U.S. applicationSer. No. 11/871,340 filed Oct. 12, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,093,702,which claims foreign priority benefits of Republic of SingaporeApplication No. 200706007-2 filed Aug. 16, 2007, each of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure is related to stacked microelectronic devices andmethods for manufacturing stacked microelectronic devices.

BACKGROUND

Processors, memory devices, imagers and other types of microelectronicdevices are often manufactured on semiconductor workpieces or othertypes of workpieces. In a typical application, several individual dies(e.g., devices) are fabricated on a single workpiece using sophisticatedand expensive equipment and processes. Individual dies generally includean integrated circuit and a plurality of bond pads coupled to theintegrated circuit. The bond pads provide external electrical contactson the die through which supply voltage, signals, and other electricalparameters are transmitted to and from the integrated circuit. The bondpads are usually very small, and they are arranged in an array having afine pitch between bond pads. The dies can also be quite delicate. As aresult, after fabrication, the dies are packaged to protect the dies andto connect the bond pads to another array of larger terminals that iseasier to connect to a printed circuit board.

Conventional processes for packaging dies include electrically couplingthe bond pads on the dies to an array of pins, ball pads, or other typesof electrical terminals, and then encapsulating the dies to protect themfrom environmental factors (e.g., moisture, particulates, staticelectricity, and physical impact). In one application, the bond pads areelectrically connected to contacts on an interposer substrate that hasan array of ball pads. For example, FIG. 1A schematically illustrates aconventional packaged microelectronic device 6, including amicroelectronic die 10, an interposer substrate 60 attached to the die10, a plurality of wire bonds 90 electrically coupling the die 10 to theinterposer substrate 60, and a casing 70 protecting the die 10 fromenvironmental factors.

FIG. 1B schematically illustrates another conventional packagedmicroelectronic device 6 a having two stacked microelectronic dies 10a-b. The microelectronic device 6 a includes a substrate 60 a, a firstmicroelectronic die 10 a attached to the substrate 60 a, a spacer 30attached to the first die 10 a with a first adhesive 22 a, and a secondmicroelectronic die 10 b attached to the spacer 30 with a secondadhesive 22 b. The spacer 30 is a precut section of a semiconductorwafer. Other types of conventional stacked microelectronic devicepackages include an epoxy spacer, rather than a section of asemiconductor wafer, to space apart the first and second dies 10 a-b.The epoxy spacer is formed by dispensing a discrete volume of epoxy ontothe first die 10 a and then pressing the second die 10 b downward ontothe epoxy. Epoxy spacers, however, are not rigid until cured, and thusthe second dies may not be uniformly spaced apart from the correspondingfirst dies.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A schematically illustrates a conventional packagedmicroelectronic device in accordance with the prior art.

FIG. 1B schematically illustrates another conventional packagedmicroelectronic device in accordance with the prior art.

FIG. 2A is an isometric view of a stacked microelectronic die assemblyhaving two-tiered metal spacers at the corners of the dies in accordancewith one embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 2A showingmetal spacers positioned on spacer bond sites.

FIG. 2C is another cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 2Ashowing interconnects passing between the stacked dies.

FIG. 2D is another cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 2Ashowing electrical isolation of the metal spacers.

FIGS. 3A-C are cross-sectional views of metal spacers in accordance withseveral embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of a microelectronic die having metalspacers placed on an interior portion of the die in accordance withanother embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5A is an isometric view of a stacked die assembly having stitchedmetal spacers in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 5A showing thestitched metal spacers passing between the stacked dies.

FIG. 5C is a cross-sectional view of the assembly of FIG. 5B showingelectrical isolation of the stitched metal spacers.

FIGS. 6A-F illustrate stages of a method of forming a metal spacer inaccordance with several embodiments of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of a microelectronic die having wire bondmetal bumps and stitched metal spacers in accordance with anotherembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of a packaged microelectronic devicehaving differently sized microelectronic dies and three-tiered metalspacers in accordance with another embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of a packaged microelectronic devicehaving three stacked microelectronic dies and corresponding two-tieredand three-tiered metal spacers in accordance with another embodiment ofthe disclosure.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the packaged microelectronic deviceof FIG. 8 further including interior metal spacers.

FIG. 11 is a schematic illustration of a system in which themicroelectronic devices may be incorporated.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Specific details of several embodiments of the disclosure are describedbelow with reference to semiconductor devices and methods forfabricating semiconductor devices. The semiconductor components aremanufactured on semiconductor wafers that can include substrates onwhich and/or in which microelectronic devices, micromechanical devices,data storage elements, optics, read/write components, and other featuresare fabricated. For example, SRAM, DRAM (e.g., DDR/SDRAM), flash memory(e.g., NAND flash memory), processors, imagers, and other types ofdevices can be constructed on semiconductor wafers. Although many of theembodiments are described below with respect to semiconductor devicesthat have integrated circuits, other types of devices manufactured onother types of substrates may be within the scope of the invention.Moreover, several other embodiments of the invention can have differentconfigurations, components, or procedures than those described in thissection. A person of ordinary skill in the art, therefore, willaccordingly understand that the invention may have other embodimentswith additional elements, or the invention may have other embodimentswithout several of the features shown and described below with referenceto FIGS. 2A-11.

FIG. 2A is an isometric view of one embodiment of a stacked die assembly100 that includes a first microelectronic die 102 a having a front side(e.g., an active side) separated from a back side of a secondmicroelectronic die 102 b by metal spacers 104. The metal spacers 104can be multi-tiered metal spacers comprising at least two spacerelements, and in the specific embodiment shown in FIG. 2A the spacers104 are two-tiered metal spacers with first spacer elements and secondspacer elements stacked on the first spacer elements. The metal spacers104 are located at electrically isolated spacer sites 106 adjacent tothe corners of the first die 102 a. The first and second dies 102 a-bcan further include bond pads 108 a and 108 b, respectively, forelectrically coupling the first and second dies 102 a-b to bond pads 114of an interposer substrate 110 (e.g., a printed circuit board).Accordingly, a plurality of first wire bonds 112 a and a plurality ofsecond wire bonds 112 b, respectively, couple the first and second dies102 a-b to the bond pads 114. In addition to these electrical couplings,an adhesive layer 116 physically couples the first die 102 a to thesubstrate 110 and a filler layer 118 adheres the second die 102 b to thefirst die 102 a. The filler layer 118 can also physically andelectrically isolate individual first wire bonds 112 a from each other.The filler layer 118 may comprise, for example, an epoxy, epoxy acrylic,polymide, or other suitable material, and it may be used to furtherattach the first die 102 a to the second die 102 b.

FIGS. 2B-D are cross-sectional views of the assembly 100 shown in FIG.2A. FIG. 2B shows the metal spacers 104 attached to both a front-sidesurface 120 of the first die 102 a and a back-side surface 122 of thesecond die 102 b. In this embodiment, the metal spacers 104 have twoseparate elements in a stacked, two-tiered configuration. The fillerlayer 118 encapsulates the metal spacers 104 and fills an interiorportion 124 of the assembly 100. FIG. 2C shows partial schematicdiagrams associated with the first die 102 a, the second die 102 b, andthe substrate 110. The first and second dies 102 a-b, respectively,include integrated circuits (ICs) 126 a and 126 b and interconnectnetworks 127 a and 127 b. In general, the interconnect networks 127 a-beach include stacked layers of metal lines (e.g., copper, aluminum,titanium, cobalt, etc.) and vias (e.g., copper or tungsten) that routean IC to appropriate external bond pad connections on a die.Accordingly, the interconnect network 127 a routes the IC 126 a to thebond pads 108 a and the interconnect network 127 b routes the IC 126 bto the bond pads 108 b. The substrate 110 couples the bond pads 108 a-bthrough the top-side bond pads 114 to bottom-side bond pads 128. FIG. 2Dshows a side view of the interconnect networks 127 a-b, and electricalcouplings with the corresponding bond pads 108 a-b. FIG. 2D also showselectrical isolation of the spacer sites 106 from the interconnectnetwork 127 a. The spacer sites 106 are electrically isolated, at leastin part, by a dielectric layer 129 that surrounds and isolates thespacer sites 106 from the bond pads 108 a. The spacer sites 106 arefurther electrically isolated by the lack of an internal connection tothe first interconnect network 127 a in the first die 102 a. Thedielectric layer 129 can comprise a non-conductive oxide, such asdeposited silicon dioxide, and the spacer sites 106 and bond pads 108a-b may comprise a variety of conventional metals or metal alloys (e.g.,aluminum, copper, gold, or an alloy of these materials). The spacersites 106, for example, can be formed during fabrication of the firstdie 102 a concurrently with the bond pads 108 a.

Because the spacer sites 106 are metallic, a conventional wire bondingand/or soldering process may be used to attach the metal spacers 104 tothe spacer sites 106 for spacing the first and second dies 102 a-b fromeach other. Returning again to FIG. 2A, a process for attaching themetal spacers 104 and stacking the first and second dies 102 a-b mayinclude, for example, forming the adhesive layer 116 on the substrate110; attaching the first die 102 a to the adhesive layer 116; formingwire bonds between the bond pads 108 a and the bond pads 114; attachingthe metal spacers 104 to the spacer sites 106; depositing a fillermaterial on the front-side surface of the first die 102 a; and attachingthe second die 102 b to the metal spacers 104.

The metal spacers 104 may be formed in a variety of ways. In oneembodiment, the metal spacers 104 are made from a wire bond material andformed concurrently with a wire bonding process. In this embodiment,each tier of the individual metal spacers 104 comprises a metal bumpformed by a wire bonder. In another embodiment, a soldering processcould be used to form a single tier of metal bumps on the spacer sites106 and optionally on the bond pads 108 a as well. The metal bumps onthe spacer sites 106 serve as a first tier of the metal spacers 104. Onother hand, the metal bumps on the bond pads 108 a can be used toelectrically couple a wire to the first die 102 a. The metal spacers 104of this embodiment are completed by forming a second tier of metal bumpson top of the first tier of metal bumps. An alternative embodiment forforming the metal spacers 104 includes individually soldering orotherwise positioning preformed single- or multi-tiered metal spacers onthe spacer sites 106. Also, in further embodiments, a packagedmicroelectronic device may be created by forming a casing over theassembly 100 to encapsulate the first and second dies 102 a-b, the wirebonds 112 a-b, and a top-side surface portion of the substrate 110.Embodiments of packaged devices are illustrated in further detail withreference to FIGS. 8-10.

The embodiment of the assembly 100 shown in FIGS. 2A-D, as well asseveral alternative embodiments, can mitigate or eliminate severalchallenges of stacking dies on each other. For example, severalembodiments of the metal spacers 104 provide incompressible spacers thatcan be fabricated during the wire bonding process without additionalequipment or processing steps. Many embodiments of the metal spacers 104accordingly act like a silicon spacer without the cost and processingequipment needed for silicon spacers. Additionally, several embodimentsof the metal spacers 104 may be placed adjacent to wire bonds or atoutermost edges of a die to ensure that the first and second dies 102a-b in the assembly 100 are substantially parallel with respect to eachother. Such embodiments of the metal spacers 104 accordingly avoidmisalignment errors associated with epoxy spacers.

FIGS. 3A-C are cross-sectional views showing several examples of metalspacers that can be used in the stacked die assembly 100 shown in FIGS.2A-D, or in any of the alternative embodiments described below. FIG. 3A,for example, shows an embodiment of the metal spacer 104 having firstand second spacer elements, such as spherical metal bumps 130 and 131with respective diameters d₁ and d₂. The sum of the diameters d₁ and d₂establish a spacing distance h₁ between the first and second dies 102a-b. The spherical metal bumps 130 and 131 may comprise a variety ofmaterials, such as gold, aluminum, tin, silver, lead, an alloy of thesematerials, or other suitable dimensionally stable materials. In onespecific embodiment, the diameters d₁ and d₂ of the metal bumps can beabout 10 to 75 micrometers. Thus, the spacing distance h₁ of such anembodiment can be approximately 20 to 150 micrometers. FIG. 3B shows analternative embodiment of the metal spacer 104 comprising stacked metalbumps 130 and 131. Each of the metal bumps 130 and 131 is compressedalong an axis creating respective minor diameters d₃ and d₄ thatestablish a spacing distance h₂ between the first and second dies 102a-b. Such compressed, flattened, or “coined” metal bumps may provideincreased stability relative to purely spherically metal bumps. However,a variety of other metal bump stack configurations may be used. Forexample, FIG. 3C shows an embodiment of the metal spacer 104 comprisinga flattened metal bump 130 that provides a wider base on which todeposit a spherical metal bump 131.

FIG. 4 is an isometric view of an embodiment showing alternativeplacements of the metal spacers 104 on the first die 102 a. The seconddie 102 b has been removed to show a tripod arrangement of the metalspacers 104 on an interior surface portion of the first die 102 a. Thearrangement of metal spacers 104 shown in FIG. 4 may allow more room foradditional bond pads 136 at edges of the die 102 a, and the tripodarrangement uses only three metal spacers for supporting and spacing anattached die. Other arrangements of metal spacers are also possible;alternative arrangements could include using more than three metalspacers 104 or placing metal spacers on both the interior surface andthe edge surface portions of the die 102 a.

FIGS. 5A-C illustrate an alternative embodiment of a stacked dieassembly 140 having a first die 144 a, a second die 144 b stacked on oneside of the first die 144 a, and an interposer substrate 147 at theother side of the first die 144 a. The first and second dies 144 a-b aregenerally similar to the first and second dies 102 a-b, but the firstand second dies 144 a-b do not have electrically isolated spacer sites.Instead, as best shown in FIG. 5B, the assembly 140 has “stitched” metalspacers 142 at the front side of the first die 144 a and below the backside of the second die 144 b. Referring to FIG. 5B, individual metalspacers 142 have a first spacer element 142 a and a second spacerelement 142 b. The assembly 140 further includes stitched wire bonds 143projecting from individual first spacer elements 142 a. The bond pads108 a accordingly define spacer sites in lieu of the spacer sites 106shown in FIG. 2A. In the specific embodiment shown in FIG. 5A, thestitched wire bonds 143 and metal spacers 142 are positioned only nearthe corners of the first and second dies 144 a-b. The metal spacers 142are also electrically active because they are on the bond pads 108 a,and thus the assembly 140 further has a dielectric layer 145 on the backside of the second die 144 b to electrically isolate the second die 144b from the metal spacers 142. The assembly 140 may be manufacturedsimilarly to the process of manufacturing the assembly 100 of FIG. 2A.

FIG. 5C shows a cross-sectional view of interconnect networks 127 a-band electrical couplings with the corresponding bond pads 108 a-b. FIG.5C also shows the dielectric layer 145 on the backside of the second die144 b electrically isolating the second die 144 b from the metal spacers142. The dielectric layer 145 may comprise a variety of materials, suchas, for example, an adhesive material for attaching the second die 144 bto the metal spacers 142. Alternatively, the dielectric layer 145 maycomprise a non-conductive oxide that has been thermally grown ordeposited on the back side of the second die 144 b. In general, thedielectric layer 145 should be substantially non-conductive to preventelectrical conduction between the metal spacers 142 and the second die144 b.

FIGS. 6A-E are cross-sections showing stages of an embodiment of amethod for forming stitched metal spacers. In FIG. 6A, a tip 158 of afirst metal wire 160 a is melted to form a first metal bump 162 a. Thefirst bump 162 a serves as a bottom or first spacer element of thestitched metal spacer. The diameter of the first bump 162 a may betailored by heating the tip 158 until a desired diameter is achieved.Alternatively, the overall height of a metal spacer may be adjusted byflattening a metal bump to a desired size (described further withreference to FIG. 6C). FIG. 6B shows the first wire 160 a after it hasbeen bent and pressed against a bond pad 164, for example, by a wirebonding tool. The wire bonding tool applies mechanical force, heat,and/or ultrasonic energy until a metallic connection is created betweenthe first bump 162 a and the bond pad 164. The remaining portion of thefirst wire 160 a may then be stitched to external bond pads of theinterposer substrate. In an alternative embodiment, FIG. 6C shows thefirst bump 162 a after it has been flattened or coined by applyingmechanical pressure to the top and bottom sides of the first bump 162 a.An individual metal bump may be flattened immediately after formation,or all of the metal bumps on a die may be simultaneously flattened bycompressing the metal bumps against a flat surface.

FIG. 6D shows a second metal bump 162 b on the first bump 162 a and asecond wire 160 b projecting from the second bump 162 b. FIG. 6E showsthe first and second bumps 162 a-b and the metal wire 160 a after themetal wire 160 b has been removed, which may leave a small wire tail 166that projects away from the metal bump 162 b. The wire tail 166 may bepressed into the metal bump (i.e., via a flattening process) or the wiretail 166 may be sufficiently small so as to be negligible. The first andsecond bumps 162 a-b form the stitched metal spacer 142. To ensure thatthe first wire 160 a does not contact a microelectronic die stacked onthe stitched metal spacer 142, the second bump 162 b should extend abovethe first wire 160 a. FIG. 6E shows a separation distance h₃ between thetop of the second bump 162 b and the first wire 160 a. In certainembodiments, larger diameter metal bumps may be needed for wires havingsignificant curvature. Alternatively, three or more stacked metal bumpsmay create an appropriate separation distance between the back side of adie and a curved wire (described further with reference to FIGS. 8-10).

FIG. 6F shows an embodiment of the spacer 104 that has been adapted fromthe stitched metal spacer 142. In this embodiment both the first andsecond wires 160 a-b have been removed to create stacked metal bumps 162a-b. FIG. 6F also shows wire tails 166 a-b projecting away from therespective metal bumps 162 a-b. The wire tails 166 a-b may be removed,for example, by a flattening process.

FIG. 7 is an isometric view of stitched metal spacer placement accordingto an alternative embodiment. The second die 144 b (FIGS. 5A-C) has beenremoved in this figure to show an arrangement of the stitched metalspacers 142 on front-side bond pads 108 a. The bond pads 108 a alternatebetween conventional wire bond couplings 174 and the stitched metalspacers 142. Relative to the embodiment of the assembly 140 in FIGS.5A-C, in which the stitched metal spacers 142 are at the corners of thedies, the arrangement of stitched and conventional wire bonds shown inFIG. 7 provides support between the first and second dies 144 a-b alongmore points. It is also contemplated that a variety of additionalarrangements are possible, such as metal spacers with both stitched andnon-stitched spacer elements, and/or stitched and non-stitched spacers.For example, stitched metal spacers may be formed along edges of thefirst die 144 a and non-stitched metal spacers may be formed at interiorsurface portions of the first die 144 a.

FIG. 8 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a packagedmicroelectronic device 180 that includes a first microelectronic die186, a second microelectronic die 188 spaced apart from the first die186 by stitched metal spacers 190, and a casing 182 formed over thefirst and second dies 186 and 188. The first die 186 has a largerperimeter than the second die 188. First and second wires 192 a and 192b, respectively, couple the first and second dies 186 and 188 to aninterposer substrate 194. The metal spacers 190 in this embodimentinclude three-tiered metal spacers to provide more spacing between thefirst wires 192 a and the second die 188. Additionally, the first wires192 a are coupled to second-tier metal bumps 190 b so that the firstwires 192 a extend above the corner and surface portions of the firstdie 186. In alternative embodiments, and depending on the relativeperimeter sizes of the first and second dies 186 and 188, the wires 192can be coupled with first-tier metal bumps 190 a or third-tier metalbumps 190 c.

FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view of another embodiment of a packagedmicroelectronic device 200 that includes three microelectronic dies 204a-c and a casing 202 formed over the dies 204 a-c. The device 200 canhave two-tiered stitched metal spacers 206 separating the first die 204a from the second die 204 b and three-tiered stitched metal spacers 208separating the second die 204 b from the third die 204 c. In thisembodiment, the two-tiered metal spacers 206 prevent the first wires 210a from contacting a surface of the second die 204 b. Because secondwires 210 b have a smaller radius of curvature than the first wires 210a, the additional metal bump in the three-tiered metal spacers 208spaces the second wires 210 b sufficiently apart from a back sidesurface of the third die 204 c to prevent contact therebetween. Inadditional or alternative embodiments, metal spacers comprising four ormore metal bumps may be used to separate individual microelectronicdies. Furthermore, other embodiments may include four or more stackedmicroelectronic dies.

FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view of the packaged microelectronic device200 comprising non-stitched interior metal spacers 210 and 212. In thisembodiment, dies supported by multi-tiered metal spacers having three ormore metal bumps may receive increased structural support with interiormetal spacers.

Any one of the packaged microelectronic devices described above withreference to FIGS. 2A-10 can be incorporated into any of a myriad oflarger and/or more complex systems 490, a representative one of which isshown schematically in FIG. 11. The system 490 can include a processor491, a memory 492 (e.g., SRAM, DRAM, Flash, and/or other memory device),input/output devices 493, and/or other subsystems or components 494.Microelectronic devices may be included in any of the components shownin FIG. 11. The resulting system 490 can perform any of a wide varietyof computing, processing, storage, sensor, imaging, and/or otherfunctions. Accordingly, representative systems 490 include, withoutlimitation, computers and/or other data processors, for example, desktopcomputers, laptop computers, Internet appliances, hand-held devices(e.g., palm-top computers, wearable computers, cellular or mobilephones, personal digital assistants), multi-processor systems,processor-based or programmable consumer electronics, network computers,and mini computers. Other representative systems 490 include cameras,light or other radiation sensors, servers and associated serversubsystems, display devices, and/or memory devices. In such systems,individual dies can include imager arrays, such as CMOS imagers.Components of the system 490 may be housed in a single unit ordistributed over multiple, interconnected units, e.g., through acommunications network. Components can accordingly include local and/orremote memory storage devices, and any of a wide variety ofcomputer-readable media.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments ofthe invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration,but that various modifications may be made without deviating from theinvention. For example, many of the elements of one embodiment can becombined with other embodiments in addition to or in lieu of theelements of the other embodiments. Additionally, in several embodiments,the metal spacers can be single, dimensionally stable posts or otherstanchion-like members projecting from discrete spacer sites.Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appendedclaims.

I/We claim:
 1. A method of manufacturing a microelectronic device, themethod comprising: forming a plurality of multi-tiered metal spacershaving first spacer elements on a front-side surface of a firstmicroelectronic die and second spacer elements on corresponding firstspacer elements; attaching a back-side surface of a secondmicroelectronic die to the second spacer elements; and wherein at leastone of the first and second spacer elements is electrically isolatedfrom at least one of the front-side surface of the first die and theback-side surface of the second die.
 2. A microelectronic device,comprising: a first microelectronic die having a front side with bondsites and wire bonds coupled to the bond sites; a second microelectronicdie having a back side; and a plurality of metal spacers interposedbetween the first and second dies, wherein the metal spacers are coupledwith the front-side surface of the first die and the back-side surfaceof the second die, and wherein the metal spacers are electricallyisolated from at least one of the first and second dies.